Lois Gaston, a community leader and former city of Duarte mayor who attended Citrus College, was selected to receive the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award.
An alumna of Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School, Ms. Gaston has received numerous accolades from elected officials, held several leadership positions throughout the San Gabriel Valley and served on the Citrus College Foundation Board of Directors.
A native of Taylor, Arkansas, Ms. Gaston and her mother moved to Monrovia in 1949. After graduating high school in 1953, she started as a telephone operator before working for 32 years at American Telephone and Telegraph Company (ATT), where in 1989 she retired as a human relations district manager.
In 1996, Ms. Gaston joined the Citrus College Foundation Board of Directors and was part of the group that started the Taste of Autumn fundraiser which raised money for Citrus College scholarships. She also was a search committee member that recommended the hiring of Dr. Geraldine M. Perri, superintendent/president of Citrus College.
From 2003 to 2011, Ms. Gaston served on the Duarte City Council. In 2006-2007, she became the first Black woman in the city's then 50-year history to hold the position of mayor.
Over the past few decades, Ms. Gaston has received numerous community awards and served on various boards.
The late Richard Mountjoy, who served in the California State Senate, named Ms. Gaston a Woman of the Year in 1999. In 2009, then-State Assemblyman Anthony Portantino named Ms. Gaston as his 44th Assembly District Woman of the Year. In 2016, Rep. Grace F. Napolitano selected Ms. Gaston as one of 23 Women of the Year.
From 2009-2010, Ms. Gaston was president of the California Contract Cities Association. Under her leadership, the group donated an ambulance to Haiti following a devastating earthquake. While serving as president, she also received the association's El Matador Grande award.
Ms. Gaston has remained an active member of the Second Baptist Church of Monrovia since 1949. A member of the Duarte Kiwanis Club, Ms. Gaston also chairs the Monrovia ChangeMakers project, a grassroots organization of individuals seeking to honor Monrovians who have worked to stop bigotry and discrimination. She is also an executive board member of the NAACP's Pasadena branch and sits on the Foothill Unity Center Board of Directors.
Over the years, she has also received awards from the Monrovia Duarte Black Alumni Association, YMCA of San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Valley NAACP, Santa Anita Family YMCA and the Foothill Unity Center which awarded her the Heart in Hand Humanitarian Award in 2017.
Ms. Gaston's story was originally featured in the program for the 104th Citrus College Commencement.